I wanted to start out by saying I empathize with you, I'm going through something similar with my Neptune controller; however I wanted to give some perspective with salt, so I'm going to play devil's advocate just to give you an idea from their perspective. I used to live in the Bronx, and most people are decent, but there are definitely scammers out there, so I've learned that a negative response from a company doesn't always mean their evil, they're just watching out for themselves. So don't take it personally that they're not supportive, if everyone was honest then they'd probably honor your request immediately, but so many people are dishonest that companies often times reflexively reject claims.
For example, I purchased a new light bulb at home depot in the Bronx. I opened it up at home and someone had "returned" an old bulb. So there was no way I could get my money back because you can't return an old bulb. Another time at that same home depot I left my cart for a minute to look at another aisle and someone emptied my entire cart and put the stuff on the shelf and took the cart! My neighbor feigned injury to get insurance for his job for almost 3 years. My buddy bought a 4 year best buy warranty for an ipod, used it for 3 years, broke it, and returned it for his full money back.
With that said, if I was a large company and got complaints about a salt having an unknown material, I'd probably look into the lot and see if there were other complaints. Maybe I'd offer a small coupon, but no way would I pay for a new box + shipping, I'd only pay a small amount and take any hit on sales. Assuming my product was pretty decent I'd know that I'd always have some complaints.
I know you have a valid complaint, but salt is such a low margin product with high shipping/handling costs that I suspect they get a lot of scammers looking for free salt. It doesn't sound like they offered you any compensation, which isn't really acceptable, but given they're the #1 salt manufacturer, they can probably be pretty oblivious to small customers and get away with it. But you were right to bring that information here for us to share. I have only been using Instant Ocean since I started a few months ago (after being away for a long time), but I'll look into other salts in solidarity next time I'm due for some more.
However I would say that more than anything it's probably not very "reactive" a metal, most likely aluminum or stainless steel. I've heard about a salt having an egregious amount of aluminum in a batch and only by a expensive test did they find out that was the case. If the fish are all right, it's probably not a big deal, but I would think they would at least test that batch and prove it was sound for you to use.
For example, I purchased a new light bulb at home depot in the Bronx. I opened it up at home and someone had "returned" an old bulb. So there was no way I could get my money back because you can't return an old bulb. Another time at that same home depot I left my cart for a minute to look at another aisle and someone emptied my entire cart and put the stuff on the shelf and took the cart! My neighbor feigned injury to get insurance for his job for almost 3 years. My buddy bought a 4 year best buy warranty for an ipod, used it for 3 years, broke it, and returned it for his full money back.
With that said, if I was a large company and got complaints about a salt having an unknown material, I'd probably look into the lot and see if there were other complaints. Maybe I'd offer a small coupon, but no way would I pay for a new box + shipping, I'd only pay a small amount and take any hit on sales. Assuming my product was pretty decent I'd know that I'd always have some complaints.
I know you have a valid complaint, but salt is such a low margin product with high shipping/handling costs that I suspect they get a lot of scammers looking for free salt. It doesn't sound like they offered you any compensation, which isn't really acceptable, but given they're the #1 salt manufacturer, they can probably be pretty oblivious to small customers and get away with it. But you were right to bring that information here for us to share. I have only been using Instant Ocean since I started a few months ago (after being away for a long time), but I'll look into other salts in solidarity next time I'm due for some more.
However I would say that more than anything it's probably not very "reactive" a metal, most likely aluminum or stainless steel. I've heard about a salt having an egregious amount of aluminum in a batch and only by a expensive test did they find out that was the case. If the fish are all right, it's probably not a big deal, but I would think they would at least test that batch and prove it was sound for you to use.
